Thanksgiving is a special time of year. Living in North America there are many reasons to count our blessings with a smile on our face and joy in our hearts. For most thanksgiving is a time of meeting family and having an all you can eat buffet of turkey, ham, potatoes and stuffing smothered in a mountain of gravy, with side dishes of cranberry sauce, corn, beans, pickles and rolls; topped off with apple, lemon, cherry and blueberry pies! And if the food was not enough to get us to smile certainly catching up on the stories of loved ones and getting hugs from them certainly will! As we look upon our thanksgiving feast, we can’t help but thank God that we live in a time of relative peace and in a country whose people have more “stuff” than they could ever unpack or use! While it is important to thank God for our families and material possessions how much more important is it to thank our Creator for His existence and undying love to sustain our very lives? This sermon is going to review four steps to giving grateful praise to God: serving God with joy, knowing the Lord as our Shepherd, entering His gates with thanksgiving and remembering that his love and faithfulness endures forever!